


This Is Not Gardening (You Can't Fool Me)

by Faustess



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Boys In Love, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Civil War Team Iron Man, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Cute Ending, Domestic Fluff, Gardens & Gardening, M/M, Multi, POV James "Rhodey" Rhodes, POV Tony Stark, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Sleepy Cuddles, Tony Stark Needs Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:41:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27769207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faustess/pseuds/Faustess
Summary: Title:  This Is Not Gardening (You Can't Fool Me)Creator:  Me!  FaustessIronHusbands Square: O3 - Post Canon: CACW  (fic)Tony Stark Bingo Square: T4 - Shapeshifters (moodboard)  - Card number 4059Ship:  IronWarHawk (Clint/Rhodey/Tony)Rating:  GenWarnings: It's kind of salty re: CW Steve, but not overly so, I don't think.  When CW is addressed, it's still in the process of being sorted out, but the characters weren't sure how anything would shake out.  Otherwise no warnings.Major tags: shapeshifters, sleepy cuddles, domestic fluff, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: Civil War, Cute EndingSummary:Tony and Clint are waiting for Rhodey to come back from his run.  Tony's got an event later that day, but some things are more important than galas.Word Count: 1605Note:This is an AU, so Laura Barton is Clint's sister, not his wife.
Relationships: Clint Barton/James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Clint Barton/James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, Clint Barton/Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark
Kudos: 80
Collections: Assassin Twins + Tony, IronHusbands, Ironhusbands Bingo 2020, PolyAvengers, Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV





	This Is Not Gardening (You Can't Fool Me)

Tony Stark walked out of the house. Clint had gone out over an hour ago, saying, "I'm going outside to garden. Let me know if you need me." However, when Tony looked out the window at their garden space at the Avengers Compound, he frowned. All the wet leaves were still right where they'd been earlier this morning.

Upon going outside to investigate, he found Clint sprawled out in a deck chair dozing, no gardening implements to be seen. "This doesn't look like gardening to me," he grumbled.

Clint cracked an eye open. "Shifting makes me sleepy. I'm resting..." He stretched and looked even more languid, a thin strip of bare stomach showing between the hem of his t-shirt and jeans. "I said I was going out to the garden. I'm here, jus' like I said."

Tony sighed, the vague irritation he’d felt earlier draining away. “I misheard you, Hawkguy. Shifting takes a lot out of me too – and we had a hell of a run earlier.”

“I got room here if you wanna take five,” Clint said with a yawn and made an effort to scoot over. There wasn’t a lot of room in the deck chair, but enough if they snuggled.

Putting his hands on his hips, Tony said, “You know if I get in with you, I’m not going to want to get up later for the stupid gala.”

“You don’t say…” Clint replied lazily. “Bummer.” He flung his arm out, making a cozy place just right for a billionaire boyfriend who might also need a nap. “When’s Jim coming back?”

Tony crawled in carefully – he’d upset this particular chair once before with Rhodey in the past. Cuddling in close to Clint, he sighed with satisfaction. “Dunno. Anytime, I expect.”

“All right… this is probably one of the last nice days this fall. I want to enjoy it with him too, you know?” Clint said, his voice muffled somewhat because he’d buried his nose in Tony’s hair. “You’re warm. Like a really expensive blanket.” He maneuvered Tony on top of him and wrapped him in a loose embrace, letting his eyes flutter closed again.

Tony huffed a laugh as his body slowly released its pent-up energy. From inside their apartment, he heard Rhodey call for them. “We’re out here, Gumdrop!” Tony called back.

A moment later, Rhodey walked into their garden. “What’re you two doing? Not getting ready for the gala, I take it. If we don’t get ready soon, we’re going to be late.”

“Y’think?” Clint mumbled without moving anything other than his mouth.

Tony whined and squinched his eyes shut tighter. “I just got comfy, Sour Patch,” he complained.

* * *

Jim Rhodes studied his boyfriends from the sliding glass door of their patio. “You two give wolf shifters a bad name,” he said, the words chastising while the tone did not.

Boyfriends – how had that even happened? Clint had called Tony and asked to come back a few weeks after Siberia and he’d intercepted that call.

“Hello?” Jim had never heard Barton sound as forlorn as he had at that moment. “Tony?”

“Sorry, Barton. This is Tony’s answering service. You want to talk to him, you need to convince me it’s worth his time. I heard the recordings of what you said while you were on the Raft,” Jim had replied acidly.

There had been a long pause then – so long that he thought that maybe Clint had hung up. Then he heard Clint clear his throat. “That’s fair, man. I… Bucky just told me what happened to Tony… about Siberia. I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know until ten minutes ago.” Jim heard the archer take a long shuddering breath. “I can’t stay here… I mean that’s just fucked up. Is Tony okay?”

“He’s alive. Still spending most of his days in a hospital bed, but he’s here at the Compound.” He’d waited a moment, ready for Clint to interrupt, but to his surprise, the man on the other end of the line had stayed silent. “What do you want, Barton?”

“I just want to come home. I don’t care if I go to jail… I just can’t stay here knowing that Steve just left him up there,” Clint had said plainly. “I… shouldn’t have just believed him. I trusted him – and now I can’t anymore.” The last part was said so softly that Rhodey almost thought his ears had played tricks on him.

Looking back now, Rhodey still couldn’t pinpoint why he’d relented and passed the call on to Tony. He’d known Tony would almost certainly work to bring Clint back if that’s what the archer wanted. In the days after they’d picked him up in Nairobi, Barton had been so quiet, so withdrawn that he’d wondered if Clint had just used them to get back to the US.

Digging deeper, though, the only phone calls Clint had made were to his sister outside of Poughkeepsie – not even internet searches. It had taken Jim a few weeks to realize that yet another male role model had let Clint down. It was all in his file: Barton’s father, his older brother, mentors in the circus who had abused or tried to take advantage of him. His pack had been broken up over and over again. Phil Coulson had been a beacon for Clint, but he had died during the Chitauri invasion. And now Steve had toppled off the pedestal Clint had put him on.

After his physical therapy appointment that day, he’d gone to see Clint without any idea of what he’d say.

Clint had stared at him when he’d answered the door, “Hi, uh… Colonel.”

“I’m still just Jim – or Rhodes. You don’t need to call me by my title,” he’d said.

“I… wasn’t sure that’d be right,” Clint admitted. “Oh! What can I do for you?”

Rhodey had shifted his posture, “To be honest, I just came to check on you – to make sure you’re all right.”

“Why?” Clint had asked simply, without suspicion. He sounded genuinely confused.

“Well, Tony didn’t bring you all those thousands of miles back here for you to live under a log and grow mushrooms in your room or something,” he’d replied. “Why don’t you come have dinner with us and watch some TV with us?”

Somehow, that simple invitation with its complicated baggage had turned into a relationship between the three of them that he’d never known he’d been missing. Tony liked having someone to take care of and someone who craved physical contact as much as he did. Clint seemed to thrive under Tony’s attention and, Jim was pleased to admit, that Clint also flourished with the order Rhodes himself needed due to his years of Air Force service (like no wet towels on the bed).

In turn, Jim had come to realize that he needed the not only the physical comforting – not just sex – that Tony gave so freely, but also Clint’s spontaneity. He couldn’t believe that he’d never seriously thought about pursuing a relationship with Tony until those nights with just the three of them watching tv together or playing board games as they’d all dropped their defensive walls with each other. The first time they’d run together in their wolf forms had been magical.

So now, just back from his run, seeing his two boys curled up together gave Rhodey the warm feeling he was sure of like nothing else in this world. “All right you two. That chair can’t hold all of us and I think it’s going to rain.”

“Spoilsport,” Tony grumbled.

Rhodey chuckled fondly. “I’ll carry you, Tones, if it’s that big of a hardship.”

A lot of grumbling huffs came from Tony’s direction and Rhodey noticed Clint biting his lips to keep from giggling. “Come on, you too, Blondie.”

Tony got up on his own and shuffled toward the big sofa in the living room and flopped dramatically on the plush purple velvet. Purple because they’d let Clint pick the color when he and Tony were both away on business.

Clint sat for another long moment before reaching out for a hand up. Jim extended his hand and pulled the blond to his feet. “If we really need to go, I’ll get ready.”

After briefly considering, Jim shook his head. “No, to tell you the truth, I didn’t want to go either. I was just trying to be responsible.”

Clint laughed and kissed him on the cheek, one hand on Jim’s side. “You know you don’t always have to be the responsible one.” He brushed his knuckles over Rhodey’s cheek. “Not even to keep us in line – we’re not too bad at that these days.”

“You saying I need a break too?” Rhodey said, eyebrows raised with mock seriousness.

“Yup,” Clint agreed, “exactly. Come on… goof off with the cool kids.”

As they walked back inside, hand in hand, Jim said, “I’ll have you know, I’m very cool.”

Clint laughed again. Rhodey would never get tired of hearing either of his boyfriends’ laughter.

“I love you, Jim Rhodes,” Clint declared, beaming.

From the couch, Tony mumbled incoherent protests.

“Love you too, honeybuns,” Clint called back to Tony and winked at Rhodey.

“Luff…” Tony said before muttering the rest into the couch cushions.

“And I love both of you – can’t imagine my life without you two,” Jim said, feeling a ball of emotions well up in his chest. “I’m going to take a shower and when I come out, I want a spot on the couch, a snack, and something cute on tv.”

“Whatever you say, hot stuff,” Clint replied. “Can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon.”

**Author's Note:**

> The moodboard for this was created during the Tony Stark Bingo discord party this weekend. The fic was created to accompany it because once I thought about what might happen after the moodboard moment, I thought of including Rhodey in the ship and decided to go for it! :D


End file.
